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Ethos, the Swiss corporate governance foundation that piled pressure on UBS over a slew of sub-prime losses last year, has declared victory in its fight to win shareholders an annual vote on executive pay at the country's big banks.

UBS and Credit Suisse, along with the Swiss food giant Nestlé, have agreed to introduce the annual vote following negotiations with the governance pressure-group, which represents a consortium of Swiss pension schemes.

In a statement this morning, Nestlé confirmed the move and said it intends to maintain the consultative vote until "the ongoing revision of Swiss company law on this topic becomes clear". The company added: "We take the view that this latest move puts the company in the forefront of international best practice in the field of corporate governance."

UBS declined to comment, except to confirm the agreement, which it trailed when it overhauled its pay practises in November. Credit Suisse could not be reached for comment by press deadline.

Ethos filed a series of resolutions at five companies in September calling for a "say on pay" vote. The other two are the Zürich-based engineering conglomerate ABB, and pharmaceutical group Novartis.

Following the agreements with UBS, Credit Suisse and Nestlé, Ethos has withdrawn its resolutions at those companies - but the issue will be kept on the agenda at Novartis' next shareholder meeting, due on February 24, and at ABB, on May 5.

The "say on pay" concept is an accepted part of corporate governance culture in the UK, thanks to the Combined Code, a government-inspired charter agreed between business and investors as to how companies should be run.

But in other markets, such as the US or Switzerland, investors have no such automatic right to express their opinion. The 2007-2009 financial crisis has begun to change that, in both countries.

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Earlier this week, a consortium of investors in software company Hewlett-Packard secured an agreement from the company to introduce a similar annual vote from 2011. The company also agreed to back proposed legislation to make a "say on pay" compulsory for all US firms.

In the UK, the downturn has led to shareholders utilising their right in a way they have rarely done before.

Last week, the housebuilder Bellway became the first company in six years to suffer a rejection of its top executives' pay packages. 60% of its investors voted against £630,000 (€667,608) in bonuses amid outrage that missed performance targets were ignored.

Ethos, for its part, described the agreement with UBS, Credit Suisse and Nestlé as a "strengthening of corporate governance in Switzerland". The vote will have advisory power only, but Ethos said this would still send a powerful signal to management.

Ethos, also known as the Swiss Foundation for Sustainable Development, was founded in 1997 by two Geneva-based pension funds and currently has 78 members.

It came into its own last year with a high-profile campaign against UBS, after the country's biggest bank reported $19bn (€14.8bn) in losses and writedowns on the US sub-prime mortgage market in the first quarter of the year, shattering a deeply Swiss reputation for prudence and conservatism and angering many investors.